I have had three citrus trees in large containers for the past three years.
Living in the hill country of Texas, we have strange winters...one day is near 85F and that night we have a freeze below 30F. I usually bring the containers inside around mid-November and place them in front of a south window. They bloom but almost never produce fruit. This fall, I enjoyed one satsuma, no oranges, and four Meyer lemons.The trees are between 3 and 4 ft. tall. I'd like to take a chance and plant these trees in my back yard on the south side as soon as the weather stays above 50F.
Another problem in this area is the soil (or lack of it). My property is situated on what seems to be a limestone ledge with perhaps three inches of hard clay which necessitates growing almost everything in raised beds. Would it be practical to plant my citrus trees in raised beds around 12-18 inches deep? If so, what combination of ingredients would I be able to use to encourage growth and hopefully an abundance of fruit?

Couldn’t you just make the raised bed, with potting soil? Sounds like that is what you would have. An immovable pot. If you are able to dig down into the clay then you can get the shape as well. But then I may retain and drowned the trees.

kayakita,

I am in Arkansas and I know the feeling about the temps. Highs only for the next 6 days: 57, 39, 54, 31, 42, 53


With regards to the raised beds, do you have a landfill nearby? I have the same soil composition and I buy compost from the landfill for $10 a truckload. I am not sure about how the citrus would work out because of loose soil, but I can tell you other plants really love the setup. I highly recommend the raised beds. In the following setup, I tilled the area, put down a layer of compost and tilled the area again. I then put down a 1" layer of Canadian Peat moss. I raised the rest of the way up with compost and dressed it with mulch. I will say raised beds are more work. The compost settles and will have to be re-raised. I lost about 1" - 1.5" of depth in a year.


See the growth in my bed, that at the time was almost a year old.

http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/forums/showpost.php?p=168166&postcount=15

The mums started out as 6" plants.

gdbanks,

Thanks for your suggestion re: raised beds for citrus. Yes, in one respect, it would resemble a container since the soil ingredients would be all new. However, the raised bed I would build would be much larger than any container...probably a 4' x 4' x 18"square or 4' diameter
circle. I already have an apricot tree in a raised bed and it seems to be happy...just not so sure how citrus might adapt.

829,

Your raised garden beds are absolutely beautiful! I'm an avid fan of raised beds...I already have four of them in progress: strawberries, cool weather veggies, and two apricot trees. They seem to be the only answer for our problem clay and limestone rock soil. I think I'll try it out and see what happens with the citrus. Wish we had a landfill. Will have to make do with my compost pile which doesn't come close to producing a truckload. Thanks for your good ideas.

How has this worked out for you? Any updates?

No new activity to report. I'm just biding my time waiting for the weather to settle down and provide steady warm weather before I attempt to plant my citrus trees. We are still having temps below 32 degrees every other weekend. Right now, I'm trying to decide where to build my raised beds. The ideal spot would be in the backyard on the south side directly behind the house in the lawn beside the patio. However, I recently came across advice warning never to plant citrus in the lawn because it would receive too much moisture from watering the lawn. Now I wondering if this would apply to a raised bed. It seems to me I could hand water the lawn in the area where the raised beds are located and avoid over-watering the citrus trees. My other location is
a 3' x 25' flower bed which runs along the back of the house facing south
bordering a patio. I have already created a raised bed there to accommodate several gardenias and ferns. Most of the bed gets filtered sunlight, shaded by a grove of live oak trees; but there is a small section at the west end that gets bright sun from early morning until late afternoon...especially in summertime. Still trying to decide which spot would be the best location. Thanks for checking for an update.

I am getting ready to do a raised lily garden. I hope all turns out good for you.